Review: Telltale Game of Thrones Episode 1: Iron from Ice

I can think of few franchises better suited to Telltale’s game model than Game of Thrones. While the hit book series and television show certainly has its fair share of action, the focus has always been on the political and personal intrigue where every decision could spell doom for the variety of characters in the medieval fantasy series. It’s difficult enough to watch these characters make decisions. To have to actually be the ones to make those high stakes choices within a matter of seconds makes Telltale’s latest adaptation all the more nerve wracking.

Departing slightly from canon (wisely in my opinion), the game follows House Forrester, proud bannermen to the Stark family who own and maintain a forest of the much coveted Ironwood. The first chapter, entitled Iron from Ice, introduces us to three members of the family. There’s Gared, former pig farmer and squire to Lord Forrester; Ethan, the young son of Lord Forrester who suddenly must take on the duties as lord of the house; then there is Mira over in King’s Landing who serves as handmaiden to Margery Tyrell. All of them must work to protect House Forrester from those that would try to take over.

Despite having two sources to draw from, Telltale has chosen to use the television show as its focus and even features some of the series regulars such as Tyrion Lannister, Cersei Lannister and Margery Tyrell (all voiced by the same actor as the television series which is a nice touch). The events of Chapter 1 take place shortly after the events of Season 3 of the show. Fair warning, if you’re not even a little familiar with the Game of Thrones television series, you will definitely be lost. The game basically assumes all players are already Game of Thrones fans and it does extremely little hand holding for those who haven’t caught up.

The first chapter plays out much like a Game of Thrones episode which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, each area (well, apart from the Wall and the Narrow Sea) are well represented, and seeing how each region operates and how you must use them to help your family gives the story an additional richness not always experienced when watching the show. For instance, you might make a wrong decision or two in the beginning that will affect how events play out and how characters treat you and could potentially spell doom for the entire family. But a well spoken word at King’s Landing might get the crown to stand up the family, although at the same time it might make you untrustworthy amongst your friends.

On the other hand, at times this makes the pacing of the story occasionally jolty, quickly switching back and forth between areas with little transition and sometimes for only a short amount of time. It gave the player only a little time to get to know the three main characters let alone the large supporting cast.

This point however is a nitpick as this is a fine first entry to the new series. This is perhaps Telltale’s best attempt at its titular choice system. There are very few obvious dialogue choices you can make and even less indication if what your choice will have dire consequences in future games. Do you uphold your family’s honour or do you lie to get what you need? Do you run a man through with a sword or grant him mercy? Do you let your army take care of the enemy attacking or do you invite him into your house to try and deal with him yourself?

Perhaps the best example though is a sequence in King’s Landing aka The Land of Disapproving Stares as Mira must go head to head with Cersei to try to win her favour. It’s an agonizing sequence with no clear indication of what the right course of action is and only a few seconds to make your opinion known. It seems that no matter what you choose, at the end of it all at least one person will be less than impressed with your performance and you will have to live with that choice for the rest of the game. The key is knowing who you want on your side.

Um…not her…

All of this culminates in a couple of great cliffhangers that will leave you continuing to question your own judgement. My friends and I all ended up screaming at the screen when those moments came, which if anything is an indication of the success of the story.

As for the graphics, Telltale seems to be attempting to go for a more realistic art style while maintaining their traditional ink and brush look. While at times the character models look somewhat awkward (the female characters especially), there are some very nice little detailed touches that give life to the characters. A raised eyebrow here, a smirk there, they even manage to perfectly duplicate Cersei’s well known sideways smirk into the animation. The result overall is pretty good, although not quite as visually striking as previous entries such as the Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us.

But we’re not here to obsess over graphics. We’re here to play a game. Of Thrones. With swords. And Telltale’s adaptation offers all of that. It’s a pretty strong beginning, and you can bet I’ll be on the edge of my seat until the next chapter comes out (we are also doing a Let’s Play series you can check out). Until then, I will fret over my actions….